Donald Duck and the Gorilla
Donald Duck and the Gorilla is a Donald Duck short adventure disaster and monster film which was originally released in 1944. It stars Donald Duck along with his three nephews; Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Ajax, the killer gorilla. The 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoon The Gorilla Mystery has a similar plot involving a gorilla named Beppo who captures Minnie Mouse. Plot On a stormy night, Donald and his nephews overhear the radio announcer, Breckenridge, notify the listeners that a gorilla named Ajax has escaped from the city zoo. The nephews pale with fright, and Donald laughs at them. As a prank, Donald frightens his nephews with gorilla hands to make it seem as if he is Ajax. The nephews spotted Donald from the keyhole and in order to retaliate on their uncle, the nephews dress up in a gorilla suit and lay under Donald on the armchair (which Donald was sitting on to read a book), and eat Donald's lollipop while Donald is unaware of them. Donald heard the crunchy noise and discovers the sharp teeth and stare up at the fake gorilla, pale with great fright, he runs away. The nephews popped up from the suit and all laugh hysterically. At the same time, the real Ajax appears in front of the window and breaks into the house. Ajax then let out an enormous roar and the nephews run away, still wearing the suit. Donald, who was hiding beneath the umbrella, spots them and their disguised gorilla suit and ranted to chase them. Ajax appears in front of them and the triplet escape, but Donald momentarily assumes that Ajax is the triplets' disguise and grabs Ajax by the face the remove the "disguise" before spotting them. When Donald realize that Ajax isn't the fake (after opening his mouth and calling for them), he trembles and almost faints until the radio says that he can master any wild animal by looking them straight in the eye. Donald stares at Ajax's eye; however, as it turn out its pupil only forms a tombstone reading "Here lies a dead duck". As Ajax was about to bite Donald alive, Donald shoves an umbrella into Ajax's mouth and escapes, making Ajax momentarily stop fighting. Donald and his nephews quietly tiptoed away to search for Ajax, but one of them accidentally spills some candle wax on Donald's buttock and later burns Donald's back. Donald's head formed a boiling kettle, and he angrily drives the triplets away and his hand got burned on a doorknob due to the candle's flame being held under it, yet again, he later searches for Ajax on his own. He unfortunately crosses paths with Ajax, who was standing on his head, and Donald didn't even realized until his tail-feather hints him, and Ajax starts chasing Donald. Ajax chases Donald through his decrepit house, causing a lot of havoc of the house, like scraping a column, smashing the ceiling to a bedroom after tricking Ajax into running up a ladder at the end of some stairs, and destroying wooden planks from a really long table. Ajax pushes the table to try to flatten Donald and bite Donald's tail, but it pokes Ajax in the eye. Amid all these things, with the help of the radio announcer, the nephews use a tear gas in an attempt to stop Ajax, and it successfully subdues Ajax, but affects Donald as well. Tearing up, Ajax and Donald console one another as the cartoon closed. Cast * Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Releases VHS *Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 3 : Scary Tales *Disney's Halloween Treat *Cartoon Classics : Second Series : Volume 13 : Donald's Scary Tales Laserdisc *Cartoon Classics : Scary Tales *Donald's Scary Tales *Halloween Haunts DVD *Walt Disney Treasures : The Chronological Donald Volume 2 *Mickey's House of Villains VCD *Cartoon Classics: Birdbrain Donald (Malaysian Release) Television *The Ink and Paint Club : #34 : Donald's Nephews Technical specifications *Animation type : Standard *Sound mix : Mono *Aspect ratio : 1.37 : 1 *Negative format : 35mm *Print format : 35mm *Cinematographic process : Spherical Notes *At one point, Donald's tail gives Ajax an eye-poke, one of the signature moves of the Three Stooges. *The uses of tear gas in the film is a reference of World War II. *The voice actor of the radio announcer in the film was unknown in Disney, even today. *The short had considered to be one of the most horror short films of Donald Duck, along with other shorts like Duck Pimples, Trick or Treat. See also * List of World War II short films External links * Category:1944 films Category:Donald Duck short films Category:Disney animated short films, 1940s Category:American films Category:American monster movies Category:1944 animated films Category:World War II films made in wartime Category:Animated films about apes Category:Films directed by Jack King Category:Films produced by Walt Disney Category:Films scored by Oliver Wallace